Wes Anderson

Will the actors and filmmakers from your favorite movie be making room on their mantels this award season? Or watching the Oscars from afar? Oscar 8-Ball knows all. Throughout the coming months, Gold Standard columnist Glenn Whipp will assess the chances of every film in contention. Maybe that includes "Ted. " Probably it doesn't. Only the magic Oscar 8-Ball knows. We start by rounding up the early comers, beginning with Wes Anderson's beguiling storybook tale, "Moonrise Kingdom.

As with Wes Anderson's previous movies, there isn't a detail overlooked or a hair out of place in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” -- no mean feat given the myriad mustaches and bumper crop of beards that careen across the screen (no more than three or four of the male characters in the entire film were clean shaven). With last weekend's wider release giving more people the opportunity to check into the Grand Budapest, we checked in with makeup, hair and prosthetics designer Frances Hannon to deconstruct the whisker wizardy, walk through the sculpting of tonsorial topiaries (incuding Jeff Goldblum's epic Freudian facial fuzz)

One of the chief pleasures of watching a Wes Anderson movie is being immersed in the idiosyncratic, slightly off-kilter worlds he creates. The director's latest effort, "The Grand Budapest Hotel, whisks the audience to a fictional country in pre-World War II Europe to follow the escapades of a famed concierge seeking to recover a famous Renaissance painting with the help of his trusted lobby boy. After the film opened the Berlin International Film...

Superhero sequel "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" soared in its opening weekend to a record-breaking $96.2 million in North America and a worldwide total to date of $303.3 million. The $170-million 3-D film, starring Chris Evans as the shield-bearing superhero and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, is the top April opening of all time and more successful than its 2011 predecessor, "Captain America: The First Avenger," which made $65 million domestically in its first three days.

Wes Anderson called the other day from his office in Paris to talk about his latest film, that magical tale of first love, "Moonrise Kingdom. " You can read Anderson's thoughts on the movie here in a 13-image gallery we put together. But while we had him on the line, we couldn't resist asking about the project he's currently prepping. "We're getting ready to make a movie in Germany," Anderson says. " 'Grand Budapest Hotel' or 'Grand Hotel Budapest.' " Told that we'd heard it titled "Grand Budapest Hotel," Anderson chuckled.

(This article has been updated since its original posting. See note below.) Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is going strong at the box office as the film's slow expansion - now 304 theaters in its third weekend of release - brought in $7 million for a strong per screen average of around $23,000. "Grand Budapest" rose to No. 7 at the box office and raised its total ticket sales to about $13.2 million. It's a rollout that in its first week brought in $800,000 from four theaters, two each in Los Angeles and New York, for an astonishing per-screen average of $200,000.

Wes Anderson won't formally begin his next movie, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," until the new year, but he's on the phone after a busy day spent filming "little shots" in Saxony with a very good German driver named Peet who's quite adept, Anderson says, at weaving through traffic behind the wheel of an old car that Anderson's production team has meticulously converted into a taxi. Anderson admits he's still puzzling over the success of his last film, the coming-of-age comedy "Moonrise Kingdom," which has received best picture nominations for the Spirit Awards and Golden Globes and grossed more than twice the box office of each of his previous three films.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" opens for business March 7, 2014, with the release of Wes Anderson's much-anticipated new film. Anderson's 2012 effort, "Moonrise Kingdom," made more than $45 million in the U.S. and earned an Oscar nomination for original screenplay. In an interview with The Times last year, Anderson described the new film as being inspired by a "Hollywood Europe" tone, and films such as "To Be or Not to Be," "The Shop Around the Corner" or "Love Me Tonight. " PHOTOS: Billion-dollar movie club Fox Searchlight, which is releasing the film, says it "recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

The release of a new Wes Anderson film has been a highly anticipated event among the quirky filmmaker's fans ever since his breakout success "Rushmore" in 1998. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," which is debuting in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, is sure to continue that tradition. The movie takes place in Eastern Europe between World War I and World War II and stars Ralph Fiennes as a hotel concierge who befriends a lobby boy. It has generally won over critics, as indicated by a 89% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- a good sign for a limited release poised to expand nationwide over the next few weeks. REVIEW: Wes Anderson makes 'Grand Budapest' a four-star delight Better known for offbeat critical darlings than box office smashes, Anderson has nonetheless generated some money-makers.

Director Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic “Noah” sailed at the weekend box office as the film opened at No. 1 with an estimated $44 million in ticket sales. The film, which cost about $130 million to make, solidly met expectations, according to Paramount Pictures, which had initially forecast a $30-million opening weekend. "Noah" already has generated about $95 million overseas. “It was a fantastic result,” said Megan Colligan, Paramount's president of domestic marketing and distribution.

(This article has been updated since its original posting. See note below.) Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is going strong at the box office as the film's slow expansion - now 304 theaters in its third weekend of release - brought in $7 million for a strong per screen average of around $23,000. "Grand Budapest" rose to No. 7 at the box office and raised its total ticket sales to about $13.2 million. It's a rollout that in its first week brought in $800,000 from four theaters, two each in Los Angeles and New York, for an astonishing per-screen average of $200,000.

It is crazy how much mayhem is contained within the incredible precision of Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel. " Ralph Fiennes as its concierge M. Gustave and Tony Revolori as its lobby boy Zero Moustafa lead a marvelous cast in this meticulously played parlor game. Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, F. Murray Abraham and Jude Law are among the many. There is always great specificity in the way Anderson stacks the deck, but "Budapest" is the writer-director's grandest gambit yet, every word, every move, every stray hair in its prescribed place.

March 17, 2014 | By Ryan Faughnder, This post has been corrected, as indicated below

After the coffee. Before the green beer. The Skinny: Happy St. Patrick's Day! That was quite an earthquake, L.A. folks. Anyone who read my box-office projector column this week saw everything turn out as expected. Just kidding! Some people thought "Need for Speed" could race away with the weekend victory. So, of course, it landed in third. Monday's stories include the box-office roundup, Bob Iger succession stories and some apparent issues with the "Veronica Mars" digital downloads. Daily Dose: CBS Corp.

DreamWorks Animation's "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" scored a box-office victory with a strong second weekend as "Need for Speed" fell short of expectations and "Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club" bombed. The 3-D animated "Mr. Peabody," a comedy about a hyper-intelligent, time-traveling dog and his adopted boy, took in an estimated $21.2 million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday in the United States and Canada. The kid-friendly film distributed...

The sequel "300: Rise of an Empire" is proving unstoppable at the box office on its opening weekend, earning more than $17 million on Friday, according to estimates. The number adds to an already strong start for the 3-D Greco-Persian epic, which earned $3.3 million in its Thursday night screenings across the U.S. and Canada. The film is expected to earn $45 million this weekend, which would place it well behind the first "300. " That film opened in 2007 with nearly $71 million in sales and eventually took home $456 million worldwide.

The release of a new Wes Anderson film has been a highly anticipated event among the quirky filmmaker's fans ever since his breakout success "Rushmore" in 1998. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," which is debuting in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, is sure to continue that tradition. The movie takes place in Eastern Europe between World War I and World War II and stars Ralph Fiennes as a hotel concierge who befriends a lobby boy. It has generally won over critics, as indicated by a 89% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- a good sign for a limited release poised to expand nationwide over the next few weeks. REVIEW: Wes Anderson makes 'Grand Budapest' a four-star delight Better known for offbeat critical darlings than box office smashes, Anderson has nonetheless generated some money-makers.